Eternal Hope (The Hope Series) (22 page)

Daniel spun around to face her, his face a mask of hurt. “That’s
not
an option, okay? There’s no way I’m giving up on a future with you. We’re going to share the same fate, come what may.”

Farley bit the inside of her lip, shocked at the ferocity of his words. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t talk about it now.” His eyes were pleading. “Just trust me, okay? This is going to work out.”

A prong of lightning filled the sky overhead, illuminating the dark swells of the seething clouds. A low rumble of thunder followed seconds after, the sound of the earth groaning under the pressure of the elemental war taking place in the heavens. Farley stared at the dashboard until it felt like her eyes were on fire.

“Okay. I trust you.”

He let out a loud sigh of relief and dropped his head into his hands. She reached out to place her hand to his back, but before she could touch him a flicker of movement in the road up ahead caught her attention. It was a blurry black figure, walking down the centre of the highway, moving towards them.

“Daniel,” she hissed. He dragged his face up and froze, locked on the approaching figure. Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, he shot her an anxious look.

“Don’t get out of the car. Stay here. Lock the doors.” He opened his door and stepped out into the rain before she could object, slamming it shut behind him. He was instantly transformed into an indistinct dark shape by the incessant downpour. She lunged forward and hit the auto-lock just as another crackle of lighting ripped across the sky, throwing the world into light and shadow. She couldn’t see a thing. Twisting her body, she reached across, turning the key in the ignition so that the electrics came back on. The windshield wipers leapt into a frenzy.

Through their crazy beating, Farley made Daniel out as he walked the white line in the middle of the road, his shirt plastered to his back. Just beyond him stood the figure of another man. A worried pulse throbbed through Farley, hot, making her dizzy. He wore a long black coat, which was drenched by the rain. There was a jagged smile across his face, one that could have been cut out with a dull knife. Farley sank low in her seat. Without being told, she knew it was imperative he didn’t see her.

Just get out of there, just get out of there.
That man in the black coat was trouble- bigger trouble than a handful of Immundus. She could feel it. Daniel halted in the road a few feet in front of the other man, who kept walking towards him, his sneer spreading wider. The man stalked around Daniel, surveying him head to toe. Daniel’s shoulders tensed.

Come on, what are you doing? What are you doing?

Quicker than a flash, the man pulled a gun out of nowhere and pointed it at Daniel’s head, less than a few inches away. Daniel remained with his back to the car, absolutely still. What the hell was going on? She had to fight down the urge to dash out into the rain, or to do something even more stupid. She briefly considered firing up the engine and running the car at the stranger but she knew better than to try. Daniel was more than capable of disarming one man, and if she scratched his car…

The man drew his hand back and lashed out hard, striking Daniel on the side of his head with the butt of the gun. A surprised scream tore out of her throat, and Farley covered her mouth with both hands, forcing it back in. Daniel crumpled for a second before straightening up again. What was he doing? Why didn’t he just kill the guy? He didn’t even move his hands from his sides.

Her
hand moved to the door handle and paused there while she wrestled with herself. What was she going to do once she got out of the car? She’d seen way to many annoying movies where the girl did something she’d specifically been told not to, only to complicate matters and get someone killed. Usually herself. She snatched her hand back and leaned forward, biting down on one of her knuckles. The man paced around Daniel again, talking the whole time. If only she could hear what he was saying.

Another bolt of lightning seared across the sky, all fire and brimstone. The man stopped pacing and looked distractedly towards the car. Farley felt her heart thump to a stop. He started walking towards the Viper and Daniel followed hot on his heels. Daniel reached out and grabbed his arm, yanking him around. The man swung wildly at him with his gun, causing him to back up a couple of steps.

A surge of adrenaline burnt through Farley, leaving a metallic taste in her mouth. She fluttered her hands against the edge of her seat, unsure what to do. Before she could make any sort of decision, it hit her: lilies.

Lilies
.

“Oh, crap, not now! Not now!” She bit back a frustrated sob, feeling the tears burning in her eyes. It was no good. The vision was strong, forcing its way into her head, overwhelming her. She swallowed down the foul assault on her senses, focusing on Daniel out of the window. If she kept her sights locked on him, she wouldn’t go anywhere. All she needed to do was keep focused on him. Nothing would happen if she did that. Nothing.

The last thing she saw was the dark outline of the man with the gun turning back towards the car. When the vision peaked, crashed over her, pulling her consciousness away, he was standing at her door.

Kayden was in the kitchen when he sensed it. Something wasn’t right. An anxious feeling washed over him, twisting his insides so tight he had to put down the butter knife he was holding so he could grip hold of the counter. This panic was all consuming, pulling him towards the ridgeline of mountains that scraped the panorama out of the window like jagged black teeth. The storm was raging. His toast was going to have to wait.

Kayden closed his eyes, focusing on the pull. He felt the rain first, the cold, forceful pressure of it against his cheeks, running down the back of his neck. The crackle of electricity was next, biting at his skin.

When he opened his eyes, Daniel’s Viper was parked at the side of the road, the rain turning the windshield opaque with its explosive force. The windshield wipers were frozen halfway across the glass, pointing off towards the trees that loomed on either side of the road, blocking out the weak, yellowed light of the storm. There was no one in sight. A spark of the same panic he’d felt back in the kitchen made the hairs on the
back of his neck stand on end.
He ran down the road and yanked the car door open, but there was no one inside. No signs of a struggle. Where were they?

He spun around in a three-sixty, scanning through the trees first on the left and then on the right. It took a while before he saw it- the hot white flash of light flaring off in the heart of the woods. He leapt off the road, his feet sinking into the spongy, wet dirt, which was churned up and thick with mud. There were a
lot
of different boot marks there. He charged off in the direction of the light, the sound of his rapid breathing rattling around inside his head. Should he transport himself through the trees? Probably a bad idea. The skill had its limitations, and popping over to a clear, open space was all well and good, but trees… He pushed harder, pumping his fists against the rain. The sound of fighting broke out over the growling thunder, and after dodging a few tightly spaced cedar trunks, Kayden stumbled out into a cramped clearing. He skidded to a halt, taking in what could only be described as a nightmare.

Seven bodies lay face down in the dirt, pine needles stuck to their skin, glued in place on the wet faces of the dead. Their fingers were blackened at the tips, marking them as victims of extreme electrical charge. A film of thick, stinking mud sullied the uniform of their black clothes. Daniel was locked on the floor, wrestling with the last remaining figure, baring his teeth in frustration as the man beneath him pushed upwards and unseated him. Both of them crashed sideways into the mud, grappling at one another to gain a firm purchase. A flare of light burst forth from Daniel’s hands, momentarily stunning the other man. Daniel coiled around the prone body on the floor as it tremored and quick as a snake pinned him to the floor with his knees. From there he set to pounding the man’s face with his fists, screaming with rage as the rain belted down, plastering his hair to his face.

“Daniel!”

He couldn’t have noticed Kayden arrive, because Daniel’s body jolted a foot in the air. He slipped off the body lying in the mud, immediately throwing up his palms in defense. Kayden stepped forward, holding out his own hands.

“It’s okay. It’s just me. Where’s Farley?”

Daniel swallowed, his eyes wide. He brushed his hair out of his face, smearing dark brown sludge onto his forehead; the rain washed it down his face. “She’s…she’s over there.”

Kayden followed in the direction Daniel pointed, catching sight of the bundled mound straight away. She was lying on her side at the base of a tree, wrapped in the fetal position. Her dark hair was tangled into a wet mess and her shirt was rucked up, revealing angry-looking red scrapes up her back, like she’d been dragged. She was deathly pale, her breathing shallow and irregular.

Kayden scooped her up off the sodden ground and carried her over to Daniel. He was back to beating the living crap out of the man beneath him, who had regained consciousness and was doing his best to squirm free. There was a mad look in Daniel’s eyes as he swung again and again and again.

“Daniel.
Daniel,
” Kayden whispered. He clearly couldn’t hear him above the demanding voice of his wrath. Kayden reached out and touched his shoulder, watching him falter. His body went limp, slumping over the mangled torso of the half dead Immundus. Slowly, he pulled himself upright and drew in a ragged breath.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he growled.

“Yes, I should. You’re not helping anybody right now. She needs you.” Kayden set Farley down on the ground by his side. Lightning ruptured across the sky in angry brilliant white filaments, making the trees look like they were on fire. Daniel glanced down at Farley, unconscious and too, too pale. He flexed his hands.

             
“Keep an eye open. There’s still one of them out there.” His voice sounded like a cracked, broken thing. He plucked Farley up from the ground as though she weighed nothing and set off back towards the road. Kayden took one last look at the bodies scattered through the woods and followed after him.

“What happened?”

Daniel stared straight ahead, cradling Farley’s body to him, gentle yet fiercely protective. “Simeon’s men found us. I thought it was just one of them at first, but he told me there were more of them waiting in the woods. He said if I attacked him, he would order them to take her.”

Kayden bit down on his jaw, processing this. “And you didn’t attack him? So how did you end up beating the shit out of someone in the woods surrounded by dead bodies?”

Daniel glared at him, water dripping off the ends of his wild hair. “He tried to take her anyway.”

Back at the car Daniel carefully folded Farley into the back seat and paused at the driver’s side. He stared at the handle for a moment before closing his eyes. “You’re going to have to drive. I can’t focus right now.”

Kayden caught the keys out of the air and nodded. Now wasn’t the time to come out with a smart remark. Daniel looked like he was about to go on another rampage, and Kayden had been on the receiving end of a couple of his blind outbursts before. Once he was on top of you there was no shaking him. Kayden traded sides and clipped into the car. It would be much quicker to transport them back to the cabin, but leaving the Viper was a supremely bad idea. If the Immundus came back and found it on the side of the road, it was a sure way to let them know they’d struck it big and the safe house wasn’t far away.

The engine snarled as he spun the car into a handbrake turn, letting the wheels smoke before he dropped it into gear, tearing off up the deserted stretch of road. “How far are we from the cabin?” he asked.

“About an hour.” Daniel twisted in his seat to check on Farley.

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. I think she’s slipped into another vision. She’s breathing this time, but something doesn’t feel right.”

Kayden narrowed his eyes out of the windshield, pre-empting the corners and drifting the Viper around the bends. “You said there was one still out there? You think he’ll be following us?”

“I don’t know. He was the mouthy one whose friend shot Cassie back in Skykomish. Clay. He vanished as soon as I started killing the others. There’s something different about these men, I’m telling you. Simeon’s done something to them.”

A grimness set over Kayden. “I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s one of the first. He hasn’t taken any power for a very long time, but that might not matter. A Reaver that old could be capable of anything. Plus he’s out now, and who knows how many people he’s killed to regain his strength.”

The road stopped zigzagging and straightened out, allowing Kayden to press his foot to the floor. The needle on the speedometer climbed until it wavered over the one hundred and twenty mph marker, at which point he pushed it even further. Maybe it was a good thing Daniel had switched out cars; the Charger couldn’t have done this.

Daniel raked his hands back through his hair and threw his head back against his seat. “What am I going to do?” he whispered, closing his eyes. “What am I going to do?”